Learning to Live A New Way
by DreamsNitemares
Summary: Alex Rider is different. He has grown up in a research lab that did illegal experiments on man-made children. He is a hybrid, made for stealth and spy work. At the age of fourteen he has seen more then he should have. Deemed too dangerous for normal life, he is sent to Brecon Beacons and put on the K-Unit. They want to help him have a better life, too bad he doesn't trust them.
1. A Different Kind Of Day

**Warnings: Violence, Blood, Mentions of rape, Abuse.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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**A Different Kind Of Day**

A normal fourteen year old would be sitting on the couch on a rainy day watching T.V. Or playing video games. A normal fourteen year old would be running around outside with friends and enjoying the day. A normal fourteen year old would be welcomed home by loved ones. A normal fourteen year old would celebrate important days of the year like Christmas or their birthday. A normal fourteen year old would not wake up to pain and tests everyday.

But he was not by any means normal. Experiment Cougar or C for short, or if the scientists were really mad they would use his number 13, was a young male. He looked to be around fourteen although his true age was not recorded since he was born from a test tube. He was in other words, replaceable. He didn't have friends, he didn't even make contact with other hybrids and experiments. He would be used to experiment on until he dropped dead, then the data used would help make more, improved hybrids. He was the prototype, the first successful cat hybrid to live this long. He had no real name, he didn't know his own birthday nor did he really have one, and he was mute. An "Accident" during a experiment to improve his combat skills against weapons had ended horribly. His voice box had to be completely removed, he was very lucky they had decided to have him be used as a spy. They didn't need to talk. But they made sure he was a genius when it came to everything else. They didn't except failure and he would be shot dead in seconds if he did something wrong.

The scientists always used to repeat the words "You're stuck here forever, there is no escape, there is no happy ending, you will be free when you die maybe, and forever is a very long time." He hated those words to no end. He had never been outside before, it always go him curious, but he never ventured too far, "Curiosity killed the cat" was the warning he received and he held it close to his heart in fear.

He was a smaller male only around 5'6, they had made sure of it, it helped him move around faster and easier without getting caught. He had sandy blonde hair and brown eyes that turned almost green with slits if he was angry or terrified. His ears and tail matched his hair perfectly. The scientists were picky about appearances, they were afraid high ups could visit at any time. As a result the experiments were made to look presentable, his hair was left shaggy but trimmed when it got too long and it was required for a bathing every day, he didn't like those. Uniforms were given based on hybrid type. He wore all white, a cotton button up long sleeved shirt to hide the scars and bruises that covered his skin from the needles and beating, and white pants with white shoes. All of his clothes were baggy due to the malnutrition, he got one meal a day if it was considered one, pills and an I.V. in his arm placed in at night to be sure he was healthy.

He was extremely untrusting in fact he did not go near people willingly. He flinched away at every hand or potential weapon that came within a foot from him. He was known to attack on instinct in some cases, usually if someone tried to shake him awake. People would roughly pull him out of his cage through the poor boy into a panic attack complete with hissing and attempting to attack with scratching and biting, once sedated with a drug that forced him to calm down he was dragged off to his latest experiments.

He knew the day was different when he jumped awake to sirens blaring and lights flashing. Footsteps pounding on the concrete and the smell of fire. He curled up in his small dog crate scooting to the shadows in the back of it, his tail curled around him and his ears flattened to his head. He immediately regretted it jerking in agony from the bruises and opening the large cuts that soaked his white clothes crimson, it looked black in the darkness. He could feel the thin clothes sticking to his trembling body. It was very cold in the room, supposedly it made sure they kept calm and were too numb to move. So far it worked well but it did not help keeping them from getting sick. Many had died from the icy temperatures of the room. Instinctively he curled up into himself in hopes of preserving what little heat he could. Covering his ears with his shaking hands he whimpered mutely trying to block out the shrieking alarms that felt like they were physically beating his weak body.

His ears were extremely sensitive, one of the many enhancements, the rest of his senses were enhanced too. He did not have super strength but he was flexible and excelled in hand to hand combat as well as being an excellent gunman.

The scientists had made sure he was unable to go against them by making sure a remote control shock collar was place securely around his neck. It sent shock signals directly to the brain, he had seen experiments get electrocuted to death or go brain dead because of the shocking. The remote was special, the person in charge of him for the day would keep it and it would reply only to their thumb prints. The only person who could make it unlock was the Director, if one tried to rewire it to remove it the device would explode in order to keep the secrets of the experiments safe. The body would be completely destroyed to ash so no evidence could be collected.

He could remember every one of his tortures clear as day and would never forget because he had photo and auto memory. Once when he was a child he was trained in Resistance To Interrogation, they had used water to torture him. They had forced his head under the icy liquid too many times to count pulling him out to ask questions and when he refused to speak he was forced back under again. This was before he lost his voice and after they had discovered his phobia to water it became their main use of torture. It was just as affective now as it had been when he was younger, if anything it had gotten much worse. The bathing did not help it at all, a violent spray of water and the rough scrubbing of mechanical hands almost always sent him into panic attacks. They were still trying to beat and force his terror to the clear liquid out of him. It was not working at all but they would never stop.

A hushed silence filled the room and gas was released throughout the room. He listened to the choking and gagging of the others. The deathly gas did not effect him for some reason not yet at least. When his breathing became hard and gasped out he knew he was dying. He watched the a face come into view.

"Boss, there's a kid in here, he's still alive." A male, part of the army from the looks over his uniform, his voice was muffled and far away. Large gloves hands reached in and he tried to move away hissing weakly but he could barely move his body to attack. The small male shivered violently feebly trying to struggle as he was pulled carefully out of the cage. He tensed going rigid as he felt hand pulling his arms away from his bleeding wound. However a gentle voice began to echo around him. His trembling form relaxed slightly jerking as he struggled to breath from the after affects of the gas that he dissolved from the room when the men had disarmed the system and opened the door. He heard a sharp gasp from the man holding him, watching the blurred figure in front of him step closer. He flinched into the solider holding him and immediately tried to flinch away from that. In the end he curled into himself trying to get as small as possible. "He's freezing, and he's way too light!"

Something very warm and heavy was laid over him as best as possible, he cuddled into in savoring the rare heat that didn't seem to come with pain. He felt himself moving as he was carried away and the mumble of someone telling him not to sleep. He did not listen as he let his head fall softly away the chest of the man holding him, he breathed a breath of air as he dozed off.

Only for pain to wreck his body, he jerked and twitched violently scratching at the collar. Green eyes filled with fear and agony as electricity coursed through his body. His mouth opened in a mute scream. His sight cleared for the most part allowing him to see the men somewhat although the edges of his vision was defected by a blurry like fog. They were trying to take the collar off, larger hands kept pushing his smaller trembling ones away. He scratched, shoving weakly and shaking his head as tears poured from his eyes trying to make them stop.

As quickly as it had started the agony stop, his body jerked in the after shocks as he choked back sobs holding the large material, he realized it was a camouflage jacket, in a death grip. The soldiers thankfully seemed to understand that the collar would not hurt him if they did not remove it because they did not try again. Slowly his breathing slowed to a normal rate as did his heart as he calmed down.

They were speaking to him apologizing he realized but he just shut himself down trying to hide away from the pain. He managed to stay awake as they walked. His brain began to catch up with his body when he saw the bodies of dead scientists. The soldiers had come to either save the experiments or kill them. Looking up with wide questioning eyes he got his answer when the man looked down to check on him. A smile, it wasn't mean or cruel, his eyes were not full of hidden meaning or secrets, he had no evil in them. These people were here to save the experiments and against all odds he was the only one to survive the poisonous gas. He silently thanked his body's ability to fight off poison for longer then normal. It had saved his life. Letting his now brown eyes slide closed he fell asleep wonder what was going to happen next, he hoped there would be no more experiments.

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_**Should the men who found him be the K-Unit or someone else? **_

**Please Review. Any flames or suggestions are much appreciated. Any ideas would be fantastic.**

**Thank you so much for reading and I hope you liked it.**


	2. Peppermints And The K-Unit

**Warnings: Violence, Blood, Mentions of rape, Abuse, Language. **

_**"Alex using sign language to speak"**_

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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**Peppermints And The K-Unit**

The soft rhythmic beeping of a machine drew him into conciseness. Slowly he cracked his eyes open but immediately regretted it squeezing them shut seconds later. He felt his hand twitch only to find something in it. Forcing his eyes open, letting the bright lights stream in he found a face looking down at him. An older woman with darker skin, short black hair and black eyes stared back. It took him a few seconds to process that he did not know this person and upon realizing this his body end rigid as he tried to get away.

He flinched squeezing his eyes shut as a hand rose towards his face, fingers laced into his hair before beginning to stroke. He blinked in surprise, that was not expected but, it felt good. He unconsciously leaned into the gentle hand. A soft sound became to fill the small room for a few minutes before he registered it was actually coming from him.

"It's called purring, the sound you are making..." She chuckled softly scratching the cat ears that were perked up, alert and listening. He jumped hearing her voice shocked at the gentleness of it.

He watched the woman suspiciously, just waiting for her to turn around and become like all the other scientists. With the white walls and blank room he had to been in one of the labs or a recovery room. After all he had been dreaming a very odd dream last night, he blamed the tests that had preformed earlier that morning.

"My name is Tulip Jones, but you can call me Mrs. Jones...Do you have a name?" She asked keeping her voice soft and gentle as possible. He looked around the room noting the machine he was hooked to that told the beating of his heart to his left as well as an I.V in his arm and some other needle a little farther up but he suspected it was either morphine or some kind of drug to treat the affects of the gas. He blinked poking at the bandages that were around his stomach cautiously before surveying the others around his torso, arms and legs. Looking over at her confused he frowned softly, he had never been cared for to this extent. "You have a lot of injuries including scars and bruises not to mention a bullet wound that is still healing a few centimeters away from your heart...It's rather fresh too, maybe a week old at tops."

He nodded knowing of all of the wounds well. Pointing to his throat he smiled sadly trying to indicate he could not speak and he did not know if she knew sign language. She looked confused for a moment before understanding filled her eyes and she smiled faintly reaching into her purse and pulling out a note pad. Pushing himself into a sitting position he was careful not to show the pain he was in. He took it gently clicking the pen open before writing with a slightly unsteady hand but it was neat other then the slight shaking.

_I do not have a name, I was always called C or 13...The name of the experiment was Experiment Cougar. Where am I?_

"You are in a hospital called St. Dominacs. Don't worry you are safe here." She told him. He watched her closely looking for the signs that she was lying but he did not detect any. Deciding to trust her answer for now he nodded.

A hiss escaped him as the door swung open and a man who looked like he belonged in a graveyard or at least a very dark and gloomy place. Another man followed in behind him and he flattened his ears against his head. A doctor, he hated doctors. He growled low at every step they took closer to him. He may be mute but for some reason he was still able to hiss, growl, and purr, since he had never purred before today he didn't know what the use of it was but growling and hissing were warning that he would and could attack.

"Calm down boy." The man in a dark suit with gray hair and pale skin, he had gray eyes, he looked boring and not like a person that could be trusted. He knew the man too, this person was Alan Blunt, he was one of the higher ups in society as the Head of MI6, but the hybrid did not get good vibes from him at all. "What is wrong with him, Mrs. Jones.?" He demanded glaring at the woman as if she had done something wrong.

"He was perfectly fine before you two walked in, he probably doesn't like you." She answered and he watched curious as she unwrapped some kind of hard circle like thing. She caught him looking and held out a hand palm up, he peeked into it staring at the red and white mystery in the middle of her palm. "It's called a peppermint, it's candy." She told him, after a few seconds she set it down on the bed next to him where he could get it if he wanted it.

He glared at the thing she had named a peppermint slowly bringing up a hand and poking at it. His eyes narrowed as if he was daring it to move. His ears perked up twitching as his long tail jerked from side to side in the tangles of the covers. He picked it up slowly waiting for it to explode in his face, he managed to unwrap it by pulling the sides just as he watched Mrs. Jones do before sniffling it. He tilted his head able to identify some of the ingredients but not all. Figuring it was safe he stuck it in his mouth, after discovering it was not something to bite immediately he stuck with sucking on it pleased to find it was sweet and very good. He looked up seeing three pairs of eyes on him filled with confusion and tilted his head as if to ask _what?_. He may be a genius at everything that could save him on a mission but small things, like the candy, were stranger to him completely. There were not these things in the lab just pain and fear.

Mrs. Jones was smiling although it was small amusement twinkling in her dark eyes. Blunt was just watching him with a bored and slightly annoyed look on his face. While the doctor seemed to be trying not to laugh at him. Apparently his actions were funny, he was just taking necessary cautious action just in case he had to defend himself if the peppermint was a bomb, he could tell that it was not poisoned from when he had smelt it before.

The next few weeks were spent getting his health up and sometimes taking walks outside. The hybrid the nurses learned quickly was not adapt to normal life. Almost everything he did was survival. Cars that went by sent him jumping a foot in the air and moving in to attack. They were even able to get him into one he would expertly slip away.

His silent nature and spy instincts made it easily for untrained eyes to miss. If it hadn't been for Mrs. Jones who had taken it upon herself to visit the boy everyday they were positive the male would have run away.

After a panic attack when a nurse had tried to give him a shot and had resulted in three knocked out nurses and five people holding him down before he had the chance to hurt himself or someone else. They began to give them the medicine in a drink form to avoid any other panic attacks.

Alan Blunt had decided that the boy was not allowed to be in society instead he was to be sent to Breacon Beacons where he would be trained and live with the SAS soldiers in between missions that MI6 would send him on. Of course the hybrid had no say but it seemed he did not mind either. He had been trained his entire life in spy work he did not know how to do anything else.

So three days later, they would have left right away but the boy, Mrs. Jones had named him Alex Rider on the second day she had gone to visit him in the hospital, refused to go near the car. It took a gallon of milk and gently coaxing to get him near it. After showing him it would not hurt him as he had previously thought the blonde had climbed him, curled up in a spot where the sun had warmed the leather seats and proceeded to fall asleep. He had been trained in spy work but had never left the facility he had been born and raised in.

Alex's sandy blonde cat ears flattened against his head even more then they had previously been. He had been told to hide them as to not rise any suspicions, his tail was wrapped carefully around his waist where the tucked in shirt would hide it well. It had been almost a month since he had been rescued from the lab. Now almost to a healthy weight, although he was still twenty pounds under, he looked much healthier. His brown eyes stared into sharp light blue which like his were filled with experience and seemed to be calculating him top to bottom. This man called the Sergeant was a tall, build tanned man with dark chopped hair. He stood tall, towering over the small hybrid, most people did, he was meant to be quick and nimble. Alex knew the instant the man walked up that the Sergeant could have squashed him like a bug.

"Your name will be Cub here, you will be in the K-Unit. Follow orders and you'll survive. I'm not allowed to bin you but you can be positive that I will make your life a living hell if you don't follow the rules. Got it?" The deep voice made the smaller male shudder inwardly in fear bringing back horrible memories. He nodded, the Sergeant grunted motioning him to follow.

The walk was short and quiet. The hybrid took in the details of the camp mapping out the layout almost unconsciously. He was so absorbed him his work that he just barely missed slamming into the Sergeant who had stopped walking. He swallowed unconsciously tugging at the collar of his shirt buttoned all the way up so it hid the bandages around his neck hiding the scar that provided a horrifying reminder that he would never speak again. He did not want to freak anyone out like he had in the hospital when the nurses first saw the scar that started on the left side of his throat and curved around the front to stop a few inches right of his Adam's apple. It had been horribly stitched, so it had scarred badly. The Sergeant slammed the door open, four men scrambled to attention immediately next to their beds. An empty one was tucked in the corner far from the others, Alex's small bag thrown on it carelessly.

"K-Unit! This is your new team member! His name is Cub! I expect you to treat him like one of your own! He will be here **permanently** understood?!" The Sergeant announced walking into the room.

"Yes Sir!" The four men yelled in unison ram rod straight and stern. Alex stood by the door nodding to the Sergeant as he left, the older male eyed him probably wonder why the newest addition to the SAS had yet to speak.

The door slammed shut behind the male and as soon as the footsteps were gone four pairs of cold eyes found him. He stared calmly back before slowly tilting his head questioningly.

"Wolf." The blonde blinked eyes darting to the Hispanic that suddenly spoke before nodding understand that this man was the leader. "I'm the leader. That's Eagle." He gestured to the blonde haired male next to him. "Technology Expert. This is Fox." The black haired male to Alex's right nodded looking annoyed. "Language Expert. And that is Snake." The red haired male did not even move or acknowledge him in the least bit reading over a medical book. "Medic. Now then, what is a kid like you doing here?"

The hybrid shuffling nervously staring at the ground. He couldn't speak so how was he supposed to answer.

"Well?" He looked up to Wolf before sighing digging his hands into his pockets trying to find a pen and paper. Frowning when he found none he looked at the Language Expert moving his hands into the correct forms. The male looked at him so a moment reading his words before nodding.

"He says 'I was sent here for protection.'" Fox translated to the others who were now watching him curiously.

"What are you mute?" Wolf sneered annoyed. The hybrid froze before rubbing his arm to stop his fingers from moving to touch the scar on his neck, that would be a dead give away. "Lets get dinner."

The males pushed past him leaving only he and Snake. He hesitated before walking over and gently tapping the male's shoulder to get his attention. The red haired male looked up obviously not noticing his Unit had left. The older nodded his thanks before hurrying to catch up with his Unit.

The hybrid sat on his bed glad to find his sketch book, Mrs. Jones had given it to him after a few days in the hospital. Opening to a newer page he began to sketch slowly zoning out, silence slipped into the room except for his slow breathing and the sound of the pencil on the paper.

"What do we have here?" Alex blinked as the book was wretched out of his hands and he looked up to find Wolf standing over him looking at the page. "What the fuck is this supposed to be?" The male grunted looking at the page, the hybrid hid a smile before reaching out turning the book the correct way. The drawing was of the K-Unit all standing in a line minus himself, their animals were nearby. Wolf's was at his side, Fox's was sitting in front of his feet, Snake's was wrapped around his right arm, and Eagle's was perched on his shoulder. The drawing itself was done very well since drawing became a form of speaking for him. The male scoffed ripped out the page and tearing it up. "Pathetic. It's not like you are going to be here long anyway, just go home kid!"

Alex watched the pieces flutter to the floor emotionless before slowly turning his eyes up to Wolf. He stabbed his pencil into his paper digging it in. _If you didn't like the drawing you could have said so, you didn't have it rip it to shreds. _He wrote shoving the pad into the man's hands giving him enough time to read it before grabbing it skillfully back. Leaning against the wall he returned to drawing ignoring everyone in the cabin as he worked on another different picture. He made no movements except looking up briefly when Fox gathered the pieces, assuming the male was going to throw them away he return to his drawing.

The next morning he awoke early before the others, slipping out of the cabin he went to the empty showers taking a quick one before changing into fresh clothes he had brought in, making sure the collar was hiding the scar before walking back to the cabin. The Unit was up by this time but he just walked past hiding his sketch book and sitting on the bed patiently. When they started to leave for breakfast he stayed waiting until it was over before meeting up with them at the first block of the day, a fifteen mile run. He made sure to stay a bit behind them watching them interact glad to see they appeared to like each other, he placed it with the word he had learned once called family. He was not used to such bonds so it was interesting to watch. Normally he would have been done with the lap but he did not want to make them hate him even more then they already did.

The next block was the obstacle course. There were other teams there all staring when the five walked up annoyed to see a kid. He shifted staring at the ground.

"So the fifth member of the K-Unit shows his face. And he's just a little kid too! How pathetic!" One of them sneered as other laughed. "I bet he can't even run the course in twenty minutes!"

The hybrid stepped past them causing a chorus of 'oooohhhh's stepping onto the starting platform he completely ignored the K-Unit's calls as they tried to make him get down. He found Fox easily.

**_"I'll be fine, I want to prove that I am not some useless kid."_** He signed before running forward. The course was easy to him, the ones in the facility had been worse, and after years of being forced to train with the electric collar shocking him at every wrong move his body dove into hyper drive. They became like second nature. But in this course, he did not beat his previous time. Landing on the end point he tensed waiting for the collar to electrocute him, only for nothing to happen. He reached up slowly touching the clothing over his neck expecting to find the collar there, but nothing of the sort met his fingers. He blinked remember that a man named Smithers had deactivated and taken off the collar, it had almost killed the hybrid in the process but it had worked. The male sighed in relief before climbing down the ladder. Only to find the shock and angry faces of his Unit along with the others. He shifted marking the woods to his left as an escape route.

A hand reached towards him, his instincts took over, it was bad, bad meant pain, pain was not good, run. And so he did. He turned quick as lightening and darted off before anyone could grab him. He darted through the halls of the lab, weaving through the scientists, anything to get away. His hands clenched was his sides in fists as he tried to pick up speed. His mouth opened in a mute scream as powerful shocks surged through his body sending wave after wave of electricity. His body met the cold tiles of the ground twitching and jerking in agony.

Hands shook him forcing his body upright. His now green eyes shrunken in his panic found Fox, oh, right. He was at Breacon Beacons, safe, the scientists were dead. His eyes shifted to normal and he shakily pushed the hands away and rose to his feet touching his throat to make sure the collar was not there. If they had noticed how his eyes had been green they did not show but they did seem to notice his habit of touching his throat. Finding his time table then checking the time he turned away and headed to lunch. He was not about to explain anything to men who he did not know nor trust.

He ate his food slowly listening the his Unit talking around him, he was not hungry. He barely ate much and could not stomach a normal amount because of his malnutrition that he had suffered throughout his entire life.

A tap on his shoulder brought him out of his silent thoughts. Looking up he found a solider he did not know, he looked at the smirking man for a moment before turning back to the front. The tapping came again, harder then before, by this time the entire mess hall had gone silent, watching them. He ignored the male completely watching the wall with a bored expression but he discreetly pushed the butter knife into his sleeve, just in case. Until, he was roughly pulled out of his seat by the collar of his shirt forcing him to meet the black eyes of the man who had been taping his shoulder.

"I'm talking to you, you little shit!" The male red faced with anger glared, the hybrid watched him calmly having not noticed he was talking. The act only made the man more angry. "What. Is. A. Kid. Like. You. Doing. Here?!" The man separated each word furiously getting no answer in return. With a roar of rage a large meaty fist swung towards Alex's head.

Survival instincts took over immediately, the smaller hands grabbed the one holding his shirt, using the nearby table as leverage he flipped around the arm, the fist missing his head by inches. His knee collided with the male's hand stunning him enough for the grip to release. He twisted in the air landing on his feet before kicking the man's legs out from under him. With a loud crash he fell to the ground, as the hybrid moved to walk away he was grabbed by the leg sending him down to earth. Spitting out blood from where he had bit the inside of his cheek on impact he spun slamming a high kick to the male's groin, making him double over. He ducked away from the path of a punch, his right hand shot out, the knife sliding from his sleeve and into his hand. The blade pressed to the neck hard enough to draw blood as he pushed a knee to the male's chest, his other hand having caught a fist that had tried to punch him. The room was frozen, no one moved, it did not even sound like any one was breathing, waiting to see how it would end.

"CUB! BEAR! What in God's name was you doing?!" The Sergeant stormed into the room probably heard the racket on the way to the mess hall to give afternoon orders. The large man turned to Wolf. "Explain your unit-mate's behavior."

"Sir, Bear kept bothering Cub, after Bear grabbed Cub by the collar while screaming at him, my unit-mate took it as a threat and acted in self defense, that is all." Wolf answered, Alex blinked, he had not expected the leader who hated him to actually tell the truth. It was probably to make sure none of them were binned.

"Is this true, Cub?" The Sergeant looked at the youngest member in the camp still in the same position as before. The blonde hybrid nodded lightly, "Get off Bear, you and your units are to run fifteen miles before your next block, next time I'll see to it that the ten of you are binned, before you can say 'SAS'." The male grunted before turning to the other units that still had yet to get over their shock. "What are you standing around for?! This isn't a birthday party, get your lazy asses to your next blocks before I bin you all!"

Alex cleaned up his plate with half eaten food before beginning his lap, ignoring the glares from the K-Unit. They finished their laps before going to their blocks, which were lectures. Alex found them interesting eager to learn more about the world he had been locked away from for his entire life. He skipped dinner again that night earning a look from Snake who disapproved of how little he was eating. Instead he slipped into the woods, climbing a tree and looked over the camp. He sketched it out in his sketch book swinging his legs lightly to hit the bark of the tree.

He returned to the cabin a few minutes before the K-Unit, sitting on his bed and sketching like he had been there the entire time. He looked up at them bracing himself for the yelling that would probably come. He was correct, Wolf looked murderous.

"You could have gotten us binned! Did you think of that?" The leader growled, true to his name. The hybrid flinched at the raised voice pressing into the wall as Wolf stormed forward. A large hand grabbed his shirt yanking him so he was nose to nose with the leader. "Don't you dare ever _think _about doing that again! Understood?!" Alex nodded before he was pushed back into his bed head hitting the wall. He barely noticed, curling up he clawed at the fabric above his heart, his scar burnt and twisted painfully. But he made sure to keep his breathing normal to appear like he wasn't wriggling in agony underneath. He squeezed his eyes, now green, shut praying that sleep would take him into a slightly better place. He was wrong, he dreamed of the horrors he had gone through in the lab. He watched over and over, time and again as the monster that had ripped out his voice chords did so, without mercy. But he couldn't blame him, he would have done the same thing, to survive. He awoke screaming, but no one heard, no one would ever hear him. He scrambled out from the tangles of the covers and outside, where he threw up at the edge of the woods. He sobbed quietly gripping at his hair, pulling and tugging as he tried to make the memories stop, they didn't. He never saw the pair of eyes that watched him silently from the darkness of the cabin. He didn't move for the rest of the night.

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_Questions:_

_1\. I'm thinking about doing a pairing...but I'm not sure yet. Who, if I do, should Alex be paired with?_

_2\. I'm still trying to figure out whether or not the K-Unit found him. Although I do want him to keep his identity a secret. Any ideas on how to do so?_

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**Please, ****Please**** Review. Any and all flames, suggestions, and random comments of any kind are greatly appreciated. **

**(I strive to better my writing style, anything helps.)**

**Any ideas would be fantastic.**

**Thank you so much for reading and I hope you liked it.**


	3. RTI And The Power Of Words

**Warnings: Violence, Blood, Torture, Language.**

"**Alex using sign language to speak"**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

There will be no pairings and some other unit will have found Alex.

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**RTI And The Power Of Words**

Alex twitched as he slowly stirred back to the world of the awareness. He stiffened immediately, this was not the gentle woods where he had accidentally fallen asleep in the night before, the K-Unit had locked him out of their cabin so he found a comfortable tree to sleep under. This was a dark, damp room. He looked around through half opened lids to see the K-Unit laying down and unconscious. He scrambled to sit up from where he was laying on his side but found his arms tied tightly behind his back. He struggled against the ropes twisting his wrists and easily dislocated them with a loud snap, ignoring the sharp pain he quickly pulled it out of his binds. He winced popping them back into place before waving them to make sure they were alright. Once finished he stood and swiftly began untying the other four men knowing that they were now awake and knew what he had just done, but they made no sounds. After making sure they were sitting up and appeared unharmed he moved to sit back down in a spot away from them only to be stopped when Snake grabbed his arms and inspected his wrists to make sure there was no bad damage.

"That was incredibly stupid of you, Cub." The medic mumbled before sighing. The hybrid shrugged, he had been in worse pain before, something as simple as dislocating his wrists had been used on a daily basis in order to escape the binds he had been put in by the scientists just to see if he could in fact escape different traps and settings before death took him.

He had been with the K-Unit for just over a year although he was usually away on missions for MI6. In total he had only really spent about four months in their presence. Nothing had changed much the four older men were still rather cruel and harsh to him. Alex kept telling himself that it was because he was a "useless child" as Wolf so often put it and those were his "nice guy" words. After all adults knew much more then children and there was a lot in which children knew that Alex did not.

The five males looked up when the door slammed opened with such force it began to close again before a large hand pushed it back open.

"Oh good you are awake." The male grinned sending shivers down the small blonde's spine causing him to shift away which unfortunately caused the attention to turn to him, the evil grin grew wider. "What do we have here?" Alex flinched when the hand snatched his chin and forced him to look up and into the cold black eyes. It took everything for the hybrid not to hiss and growl at the man who was giving off bad vibes. The teen scrambled away when the he was released. "Which one of you shall we play with first?" The man mocked tapping his chin before pointing to Alex, he didn't even glance at the others. "We'll take him. Lets make him scream."

The hybrid struggled as he was roughly grabbed and forced him out the door. He heard the yells of protest from his team mates, much to his surprise. He was shoved harshly into a room where the next few hours were horrible he was whipped and beaten, sometimes fading out of conscious, but he never spoke, it's not like he could, which he found oddly amusing in a creepy morbid way.

He hissed very much to his cat nature as he was shoved back into the room colliding painfully with the cold stone, irritating his wounds that were openly bleed, luckily none were deep or fatal. He pressed his head to the stone and closed his eyes gulping in air the fall had knocked the air out of his lungs and it was taking quite some time to get it back. He immediately squirmed as hands turned him over fighting against them.

"Cub! Cub calm down it's Snake." The words were muffled and disorientated but he understood just barely but he did. Forcing his body to relax he went limp letting his head fall back as he regained his breath.

"Did you speak?" He blinked looking up at Wolf who had now grabbed his shirt yanking him into an upright position causing him to bite back a whimper of pain. "Did you fucking speak, Cub?!"

Alex shakily tried to push Wolf away, eyes glinting green in his fear, right now his emotions were locked on terror and pain. Wolf let him down and he fell to the ground heavily before trying to curl up into a ball. He refused to move until the male was out of the way and far enough away from him. Slowly he relaxed with the help of Snake whom was rubbing his back gently, but it felt more like the older male didn't want him to go into shock and pass out or something, he probably didn't want the paper work that would come if he died.

One by one the others were taken out and came back bloody and bruised, but Alex became the favorite "toy". He was dragged out more then the others, it took them quite some time but the men finally noticed the bandages. They seemed to figure it out quickly or they were just very mad. He actually grinned in triumph when they dragged him roughly inside the room where the others were and threw him on the floor, roughly kicking him in the stomach until he coughed blood. He spat a mouthful in the man's face earning himself a harsh slap, which he was positive would bruise later. Once they left he pushed himself up and wiped his mouth of the blood that trickled from his lips and down his chin. He was pretty sure he had a few broken ribs at least among other injuries. No one was moving they just watched him.

"How have you not spoken?" Snake asked softly inspecting the damage, and not liking what he saw by the grimaces and winces. Alex smiled sadly and gave a half shrug.

**"Same reason as you."** Was his signed reply. To be honest he was pretty surprised that the unit had not figured out his secret, both him being a hybrid and his muteness, they were pretty smart when they had to be. The door banged open and the men pulled in a large bucket full of water. Two large men grabbed him holding his hands behind his back forcing him down on his knees in front of the black looking liquid.

"Now if you don't tell us your names then the child will die. He's already so weak and tired. Just one more push until he breaks." The man grinned evilly grabbing the teen's chin and stroking the blonde locks tenderly. Alex jerking away trying to move away from the grimy hands but when they move closer he sank his teeth into the flesh with a feral growl. A sharp punch to the head dazed him and the hand was ripped from his jaws.

Panic set in as they forced his head into the cool icy water he jerked and struggled trying to force his head up with no luck, they were too strong. He cried out mutely into the water, his struggled became worse as his lungs screamed for air. He was roughly pulled out of the water by his hair, held up for a few seconds, he could hear dimly screaming and yelling, blurred figures looked to be struggling against other blurred figures, before he was forced back under.

Everything was cold and dark, he couldn't hear anything, without his content he breathed in the water which caused him to panic even more. How long had he been under the water? It felt like hours. All movement stopped as he sank into the darkness of his mind unable to tell if he was alive or not. The last thing he saw was the blurry tattoo of a scorpion tattooed onto the man's arm,as he was held up out of the water before being pushing back into the darkness.

There was a scorpion, a giant scorpion looming over his broken form. The stinger posed to strike, the bodies of his unit lay scattered about him. With all of the fear in his mind he was beyond panicking. He tried to move, tried to back away but he was trapped against a wall. The stringer came down drawing muted screams of panic and agony along with it.

Beeping, long rhythmic beeping, and pain, dull pain but it was pain. His eyes fluttered open four faces swam into view. He wanted to curl back up and sleep, he coughed weakly regretting it as pain swelled in his chest. He flinched trying to bury himself into his pillow as a large hand came towards him burrowing into his hair and ruffling it gently.

"It's alright, Cub, you're safe now, kid." Alex blinked slowly registering the voice as Fox's after a few seconds. Seeing the bandages on his unit-mates he nodded slowly and slipped off to sleep, as light as it was it was sleep. They were in a safe place now, he would rest.

Water, freezing cold water, surrounded him choking and squeezing him threatening to crush his very soul until there was nothing left. He screamed bubbles erupting from his mouth causing him to choke on the pitch black liquid as large hand drew him down until he was falling into the darkness away from the light in which he was trying to stretch his hands out to hoping and praying that someone, anyone would grab a hold. But no one came because he had no one that he could grab onto. He was alone. Just like always. The hands pulled him under dragging his limp body deeper into the icy depths. They were everywhere those hands he could feel them all over his body and it terrified him. They were large and clammy just like those men's had been as he was tortured and forced under the depths of the water. He had been lucky they hadn't gone farther, he was weak and vulnerable at the time, an easy target.

Then there was singing soft and warmth. It was so soothing and gentle. It made him want to curl up and cover his ears. He had heard music before from when it had leaked through the headphones of the members of the unit. But this music was terrifying, he found himself running away through a maze of hallways that had erupted from the darkness. Away from the sounds holding his hands over his ears in attempt to drown them out. He ran, he ran until he tripped colliding painfully with the ground, a burst of white light filled his vision before it cleared to reveal four faces hovering over him. The K-Unit, safe bandaged, and healthy. Alive. It hasn't been a dream at all. He gasped for air turning on his side and curling up, body jerking as he coughed, dry heaving into his hand a few times before the panic melted away. Shaking he uncurled himself forcing his body to sit up, he was not about to give the K-Unit another thing to bully him about. Spotting a pad and pen by the bed he grabbed it almost tumbling off the bed in the process as a wave of dizziness washed over him. Snake was kind enough to steady him and help him out which he was thankful for. Writing with a shaking hand frowning in concentration for the words swam before his eyes he made sure it was at least readable before holding it up.

_"Are you alright? I don't remember much after they brought in the bucket." _He had written, much too tired to sign anything.

"We're fine, Cub. Just a few bruises and cuts that will heal soon enough. We were more worried about you. You had water in your lungs and had gone into shock. You flat lined twice in the E.R. when they were trying to drain your lungs. The unit who did RTI weren't supposed to go that far, they have been binned, although I think their punishment should have been worse." Snake told him while the others nodded in confirmation.

_"You were worried about me? That's new, sorry for that, I'll try not to be a nuisance anymore." _He replied back head hanging and refusing to meet anyone's eyes. He flinched when a large hand landed on his head ruffling his hair lightly.

"I like you Cub, you're a good kid." Eagle grinned much like a child with too much candy, Alex tilted his head in confusion. "I think the others are mad because your rich parents made you come here as punishment." That was new. Alex frowned softly looking up at the others pen hovering over the pad trying to decide if he should tell them about his childhood or just let them think he was rich. He placed the pen down neatly, they had yet to give him a reason to trust them, until then he wouldn't tell them a thing. He managed a small smile, not very good at facial expressions just yet but he was learning.

"_When can we go home?"_ He asked holding up the pad, brown eyes pleading them in hopes of getting out of the hospital that was bringing up way too many bad memories. It almost worked, almost...if the doctor hadn't walked into the room.

"Ah, you're awake, good good, we were worried. We would like to keep you over night but in the morning you may go home alright?" The man spoke soothingly, kindly...too kindly. The blond's eyes narrowed watching the man closely, there are something way off about him. He glanced at his unit-mates, they were tense showing they felt the same thing.

"I'd like to see your I.D. Please, your military one." Snake said holding out a hand for the badge, only to receive nothing. The man just gave a cruel smile tsking softly when he noticed Alex shifting slightly moving the pen in his hand.

"Now, now _Cub._ It's not nice to attack your doctor." The hybrid froze face paling, this man he knew him. One of the scientists, he survived. How many had? The man walked forward slowly ignoring the tense K-Unit who looked ready to pounce him. "We are going to have a little fun now, okay?" Brown eyes dilated, and he scrambled farther into the wall heart monitor he was hooked to going haywire. "That's right, lets play." He didn't register when Wolf tackling the man to the ground, nor did he notice Snake talking to him. He just stared into the blue eyes, those cold calculating eyes as the man's mouth moved, he didn't hear the words that came out. But he knew, he _knew _what the man had said. "_Duratus_."

The blond went rigid body unable to move, frozen, useless. Verbal orders were common hypnotizing techniques the scientists used to control the hybrids, a single word could cause them to kill, eat, run, sleep, anything. The language was Latin which was unfortunately becoming common among military and terrorist groups, they had tried different languages but they had not given the same effect.

"What did you do to him? Fox! What did he just say?" Wolf roared angry holding the man down.

"H...He said freeze, in Latin." Fox replied in shock staring at the unmoving teenager.

"Unfreeze him, unfreeze him you bastard.." Wolf growled shaking the man harshly. The man just laughed calmly before looking at the hybrid in the eyes.

"Mortuus" Now green eyes widened in terror as his hand lifted on its own, pen posed in front of his right eye. Fox grabbed his wrist knowing that had really been said, Alex didn't even registrar as his body tried to stab the pen into his eye, unable to break his gaze from the pen knowing if Fox let go he would die.

"Duratus." Fox tested the word making the hybrid freeze again, "Cieo" nothing happened causing the older man to frown before he looked at the grinning mad man on the floor then at Alex. "Libertas" The hybrid's hand dropped immediately as he regained his freedom to move on his own. He was shaking hard but slowly his heart rate was going down to normal. After the man was taken away and the room had gone to normal the blond finally relaxed watching Wolf pace the room clearly confused and trying to take everything in.

"It's called Word Hypnotism, it was used to make people obey an order with a single word, it's not used often now because it was deemed too dangerous, anyone could say the correct word and the person would have no choice but to follow it." Snake informed them calmly keeping a careful eye on the hybrid. "The language was Latin, it is the most effective to assure the orders are carried out. It seems Cub is a victim of it."

"But how could a rich kid like him have to be controlled like that?" Eagle spoke up from where he was currently attempting to fold an origami crane, it looked more like a lopsided ferret.

"Lets leave it for now, he'll speak up when he wants to." Snake said before the others could question the hybrid who shifted uncomfortably under their gazes. They nodded before plopping down in chairs around the small room where they stayed playing cards and talking until visiting hours were over. They made not move to talk to Alex but the hybrid enjoyed their company nonetheless. They were rather reluctant to leave but eventually they did after Alex told him he would be okay. It seemed the RTI had brought the Unit somewhat closer, they at least allowed him to stay in the room and had protected him from the scientist. He didn't mind their yelling and harsh words much, it was just Wolf now, the others left him to himself and didn't go near him much. Wolf still made a point to bully him when possible but it wasn't as bad nor as cruel as before.

* * *

**_SO_ I really need ideas for the next chapter.**

_**What do you want to happen next?**_

_**The unit who rescued Alex to see him at Breacon Beacons?**_

_**Or **_

_**The K-Unit to discover Alex is mute, and how?**_

_**Or**_

_**Something else? (Ideas would be great!)**_

* * *

Sorry it the translation is wrong, I used Google translate...

_Duratus means freeze _

_Mortuus means die_

_Cieo means move _

_Libertas means freedom_

* * *

****Please, ********Please ********Review. Any and all flames, suggestions, and random comments of any kind are greatly appreciated.****

****(I strive to better my writing style, anything helps.)****

****Any ideas would be fantastic.****

****Thank you so much for reading and I hope you liked it.****


	4. Author's Note

p class="MsoNormal"Hello loves!/p  
p class="MsoNormal"So…First I wanted to apologize with my lack of updating EVERYTHING and that's I've been MIA for two years. TWO, I honestly didn't think I was gone for so long. Anyway here's what's gonna happen./p  
p class="MsoNormal"I've been rereading through all of my stories and I have decided to put up a poll. No, I will strongnot/strong drop them, and no they are strongnot/strong up for adoption. I just have one question./p  
ul  
lispan style="font-stretch: normal; font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" /spanspan style="text-indent: -0.25in;"I am going to try to continue them one at a time. They will get done over time, it's been a long and hard couple of years, I've been extremely busy. But I plan on making a schedule (not concrete) for myself, I'd like to update once a week if not once every other week. So which one shall I finish first?/span/li  
/ul  
p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -0.25in; text-align: center;"THE POLL TO VOTE IS IN MY PROFILE PAGE. PLEASE VOTE! /p  
p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -0.25in; text-align: center;"Love you all!/p  
p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent: -0.25in; text-align: center;"em~K/em/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in; text-indent: .5in;" /p 


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